Chương 28: Revelation of a Pot

Initially, Lio had planned to introduce Ophila as his stepsister, or a distant relative if William had asked when they'd first met. However, aside from the fact that they looked nothing alike, William had been with them too long now. Their relationship was clearly not a familial one, especially how unfamiliar with each other they were sometimes.

Therefore, he had surmised that this was the most optimal answer, as it would serve as a social deterrent—after all, who would want to question a young couple that had just gotten back with each other after being forcibly separated? —and the added part of them having been separated for years would explain their natural unfamiliarity. He turned back to William, who was staring at them both incredulously, his mouth wide open.

Meanwhile, next to him, Ophila's expression was completely unreadable, as she stared straight ahead at the tunnel wall emotionlessly. Then exhaling slowly through her nose, her entire bearing shifted as she leaned into Lio's side. She settled her shoulder against his arm with ease, while her free hand came up and wrapped loosely around his forearm. And for the final nail in the coffin, she tilted her head up to look at Lio with an expression of such warm affection that no person would possibly think it was an act.

But before she'd fully completed the change in temperament, her eyes cut sideways at Lio for a fraction of a second. The look was gone as quickly as it came, but the meaning being conveyed was crystal clear.

'We'll talk about this later.' Then it was gone, replaced seamlessly by the warm expression, and Ophila turned back to William with a both fond and slightly embarrassed smile.

"It's a bit strange to hear it said so bluntly," she said sweetly, with a light giggle.

"But I mean, he's never been very good at being subtle about things."

"I'm perfectly subtle," Lio protested, though he gave a small smile. William looked between them, looking horribly awkward.

"Well… um… how… how long have you known each other?" he asked.

"Since we were small," Ophila said, before Lio could speak. She leaned her head against his arm as she let out a nostalgic sigh.

"We grew up in the same place before everything happened. Those were the days…" Her voice changed almost imperceptibly in the last four words. Ophila truly never failed to surprise him. This was an extraordinarily good performance, so much that William looked even more uncomfortable immediately.

"Sorry," he blurted.

"I didn't mean to—""It's fine," Ophila said, her expression brightening back up briskly.

"It was such a long time ago. And we found each other again, so." She squeezed Lio's arm lightly.

"That's what matters." William looked over at Lio.

"So you really ran all over Crater City looking for her?"

"Yes," Lio said.

"So that's why you grabbed me by the shirt? Because you thought I knew where she was."

"Yes." William was quiet, visibly rethinking the whole shirt-grabbing incident in the new context.

"Wow," he said finally. He chuckled awkwardly.

"I guess I can't blame you for scaring me like that now that I know the reason, huh?"

"Apparantly not," Lio said. They continued climbing down, silent for a moment as the tunnel began narrowing, the walls pressing closer and closer, right on the edge of being claustrophobic. Then William spoke up, "So the engagement. Was that before or after the slaver situation?"

"Before," Ophila answered.

"So you were engaged as children?" He frowned.

"Is that even legal?"

"Well, our families asked for our consent first," Ophila replied pleasantly.

"And you both said yes?" William asked.

"Obviously," Ophila said. William looked at Lio." You really said yes?"

"Yes," Lio said. William appeared to be working through the logistics of this with some difficulty.

"How old were you? Did you even know what being engaged meant?"

"We were young, but not that young," Lio said. William looked at Ophila, clearly hoping for a more specific answer. If you spot this narrative on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation.

"Well, he was very decisive even then," Ophila said warmly.

"It was actually quite sweet." She then glanced up at Lio with a small smile, and something sharpened in her eyes, something almost like… Competitiveness?

"Do you remember what you said to me when we were young?" she asked him.

"By that old honey tree?" There was a moment of silence.

"Oh come on, don't tell me you forgot," she added playfully. Lio frowned thoughtfully.

"I can't seem to remember. What did I say?" Ophila's smile didn't waver.

"He said," she told William, "that he couldn't imagine being around anyone else. So romantic, isn't it?" William chuckled along.

"That sure sounds like him." Lio said nothing, instead looking down at Ophila with a single raised eyebrow. She just looked back at him innocently, the very image of a devoted childhood friend and fiancée recounting their fond memories. The dare was still in her eyes though. She secretly flashed him a mischievous grin.

'Payback'. Sighing, Lio looked away first, turning back to the tunnel ahead. He could tell that they were getting close to their destination. The walls around them had changed, the dry stone of the descent tunnel giving way to darker mineral deposits, their crystalline specks catching Ophila's lamplight with twinkling gleams. Then the tunnel ended. They dropped the last few feet onto solid ground, and Floor 2 opened up around them.

Contrary to the previous fungal nature of the first Floor, Floor 2's setting couldn't be more different. It was composed mainly of crumbling stone ruins that stretched in every direction, and beyond that too, a horizon of bleak darkness surrounding them. Ancient-looking buildings rose up from the water in various states of deterioration, their stone archways, window frames, and broken towers all submerged to varying degrees. But the most notable aspect was the flood of water that covered everything.

The liquid was extraordinarily still and perfectly clear, sitting at roughly the height of their knees. In fact, the surface was so undisturbed that it could be mistaken as a flawless mirror. Above, the ceiling was covered with dense blue mineral deposits that cast their light downward. It was strangely mesmerizing, and coupled with how the reflection off the water's surface created a complete double world below, it all felt like they were standing at a boundary between realities.

They began moving through the ruins in a single file, Lio at the front, Ophila behind him, and William at the very back. As they walked, the water rippled and shimmered, casting ghostly lights across their faces. William continued asking questions, seemingly unable to let them enjoy the unnatural beauty in peace.

"So when you say the slavers took her," he said, dodging a submerged archway with chipped edges, where gold had probably once rested until previous Delvers had come and taken them, "how long ago was it?"

"A long long time," Lio said. By now, William had gotten used to Lio's strange replies. He turned to Ophila.

"If you don't mind, how long?"

"Around seven years," Ophila said warmly, from beside Lio.

"It feels longer than it was, honestly. Time moves strangely when you're waiting for someone." At that, William had a wistful look.

"I wish I had something like that…" Then he shook his head, turning to Lio.

"Were you ever unsure that you would ever find her?"

"No," Lio said. He wouldn't have normally replied with such a straightforward answer, but he could tell that William wasn't asking just for the fun of it. Perhaps he was having a problem of his own.

"How?" Lio shrugged.

"Because I'm thorough," he said. Ophila gave him a look of "you could have said that better", but she didn't correct him, instead adding, "True. But it's also one of his more exhausting qualities."

"Only one?" William said.

"The list is quite long," Ophila said pleasantly. They moved through a wider section of the ruins, the collapsed walls giving way briefly to what had once been a large open plaza, its marble tiles devoid of its once valuable engravings. The buildings surrounding it were in better condition here, though that still meant that more than fifty percent of their walls were destroyed. As Lio looked around the plaza out of habit, in his peripheral vision, he saw something disturb the water roughly forty feet behind them.

Hm. It would appear that they were being followed. But he said nothing, giving no hint to their surveyors that he had caught on.

"But really, this place must have been incredible," William spoke up quietly, looking up at one of the more intact buildings as they passed.

"Who do you think lived here?"

"Nobody knows," Lio said.

"The Union has been trying to establish a timeline of Ghenna for decades, but for all we know, the dungeon just spawned this in."

"You know a lot, don't you?" William remarked.

"Of course," Lio said. They moved deeper into the plaza, until they reached and entered a narrower passage between two buildings whose upper stories had collapsed inward toward each other, creating a low natural arch overhead. The water was slightly deeper here, rising above their knees, and the footing was more unstable, much of the stone tiles dislocated. On more than one occasion, Ophila grabbed Lio's arm as she stumbled on a shifting tile.

Finally, they emerged from the passage into another partially intact interior space, larger than the last, its ceiling partially surviving overhead in irregular sections that cast the light in uneven patches across the water below. The walls here were better preserved than anything they'd passed so far, the stone surface still carrying significant amounts of decorative work. And in front of one such decoration, Ophila slowed and stopped, staring at it.

Lio followed her gaze to a mural that covered the entire surface of the wall, carved directly into the stone rather than having been painted. Whatever pigment had once colored it was long gone however, leaving only the shapes themselves. Its depiction was heavily religious, showing six figures arranged in a wide semicircle, tall and graceful, their forms suggesting wings that wrapped around their lithe bodies in curling patterns.

They were all facing the center of the composition with their heads bowed and their arms extended. Praising the item at the center of their attention. A pot. The overall shape of the container seemed to be regular, but carved into its surface, visible even from this distance, were shapes that writhed and curled inside, their movements inhumane. A strange depiction indeed. The winged figures above bowed toward it in worship while the shapes inside pressed against the walls of the pot as if they wanted out.

Besides him, Ophila stared at it for a long moment without speaking. Then she leaned slightly toward Lio, whispering.

"That's it," she said, looking deeply troubled. Lio turned to her, lowering his voice as well.

"That's what?"

"The old man," she continued quietly.

"What he told me before he died. He told me about something just like this."